


morbidly murderous matthew

by kyrilu



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: 5 Things, Character Study, Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 18:38:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1438657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrilu/pseuds/kyrilu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five things you didn't know about Matthew Brown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	morbidly murderous matthew

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me experimenting with my Matthew characterization. :D

1.

As a kid, Matthew Brown has only exhibited two traits of the Macdonald Triad. Which makes that about 67%. Check, pyromania; check, animal torture; nope, pissing in bed.

The first has always been a fascination of his. Fires are easy to set. They have multiple effects: you can either die of carbon monoxide poisoning or you can burn (first degree, second degree, third). You can light them as long as you've got a functioning match or lighter on hand, and then there's kindling, and an accelerant, too. Later, Matthew gets a genuine shock of excitement when he sets up his little fire trap with the bailiff.

The second is just a passing interest. It was only once - there was a bird with an injured wing in his front yard. He was twelve years old and had been careful not to scare the creature. Then he had cupped it into his hands and squeezed it until it died, ignoring it as it had writhed and squawked and tried to scratch him.

He learns from the bird how to move around hospital patients, the wild ones.

Truthfully, of course, the Macdonald Triad has been largely discredited. Graham has demonstrated exactly none, 0%, of the traits when he was a kid. But he still aligns with Matthew perfectly, the piece that clicks into the gaping spaces within, and Matthew realizes that, maybe, he shouldn't have killed that bird after all.

2.

Matthew Brown has wanted to be a serial killer since he was fourteen. He's bored, bored for ages, but he gets hooked by true crime, by newspaper clippings that his parents have left behind, and knows that one day, that could be him. These stories are his lore and scripture - he is not alone, he is not an abnormality, and there are lessons to be taught here.

There are different names for his kind - organized, disorganized; there are different reasons or none at all. He keeps the knowledge within him. Mulls over it, breathes it, and for most of the time, it's enough to satisfy his urges.

By the time that he's fifteen, he knows all the names of Jack the Ripper's victims; he knows all the ways to be executed on Death Row; he knows the difference between serial and spree killers.

3.

Matthew Brown does not believe in God. When he's young, he goes with his family every Sunday to church, recites the prayers, and knows that that Ten Commandments' fifth law spells out _Thou shalt not kill._

He know, too, the Book of Matthew, but he believes the only power in the Bible is the power you give it. Later, he tries to hang Hannibal Lecter with the name Judas on the tongue, but the power's not enough, you can't just hang Lucifer like that, and he fails.

4.

Matthew Brown does not know how to fish. He's a good swimmer, but he hasn't gone out with a pole and bait and hook and waited.

He hears Graham talk in fishing metaphors, sometimes, a casual slip in therapy sessions with Chilton. He knows that Graham's fishing jacket is stored in the hospital somewhere, an article of clothing that was set aside for a jumpsuit.

Matthew likes to think that Graham might show him. His file says that he grew up in Louisiana - Matthew's never been there before.

On days where his fantasies lack the usual dreams of death and decay, Matthew imagines the brackish smell of the ocean. He imagines standing with Graham at a beach somewhere, looking at sea birds, and they're keeping an eye out at the poles they've left perched on a dock.

This is what Matthew wants their afterwards to be.

5.

Matthew Brown has not actually come up with a personal modus operandi of his own and carried out the patterns. At least not yet, is the promise he makes to himself, because the truth is, he's waiting for his match, for a partner, and later, he dedicates the bailiff to Will Graham without hesitation.

The tattoos on his skin catalogue missed opportunities, opportunities that he was considering but didn't act on it. There's always that woman he idly follows home from the bus stop; there's always that family he sees laughing through the window; there's always that raving patient who will never shut up.

He's been inside, sure, but that was because he couldn't exactly hide the pyromania. Years ago, he was desperate and a bit more fucked up than he is now. He didn't think that he'd find anyone, no matter how many news stories he read or watched. He had burnt his own fingers, even though he was usually careful about that kind of thing - couldn't stop. But he found his control in his cage; sometimes, captivity is necessary before flight.

In the meanwhile, he keeps the fire in. It'll come out in full force one day, maybe with Will Graham at his side, but for now he gets his tattoos inked. For now, he accepts that everything is a long, long cooling off period, and that one day he'll spark, he'll ignite, he'll rage.

 


End file.
